Understanding The Digital Forensics

Profession and Investigations

Dr. Abu Sayed Md. Mostafizur Rahaman
Professor
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
Jahangirnagar University
AN OVERVIEW OF DIGITAL FORENSICS

 Digital forensics
– The application of computer science and investigative procedures for a legal
purpose
• involving the analysis of digital evidence after proper search authority, chain of custody,
use of validated tools, repeatability, reporting, and possible expert presentation.
– In October 2012, an ISO standard for digital forensics was ratified - ISO 27037
Information technology - Security techniques

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AN OVERVIEW OF DIGITAL FORENSICS (CONT…)

 The Federal Rules of Evidence (FRE) was created to ensure

consistency in federal proceedings
– Signed into law in 1973
– Many states’ rules map to the FRE
 FBI Computer Analysis and Response Team (CART) was formed in
1984 to handle cases involving digital evidence
 By late 1990s, CART teamed up with Department of Defense Computer
Forensics Laboratory (DCFL) for research and training

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AN OVERVIEW OF DIGITAL FORENSICS (CONT…)

 The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects everyone’s

right to be secure from search and seizure
– Separate search warrants might not be necessary for digital evidence
 Every U.S. jurisdiction has case law related to the admissibility of
evidence recovered from computers and other digital devices

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DIGITAL FORENSICS AND OTHER RELATED DISCIPLINES

 Investigating digital devices includes:

– Collecting data securely
– Examining suspect data to determine details such as origin and content
– Presenting digital information to courts
– Applying laws to digital device practices
 Digital forensics is different from data recovery
– Which involves retrieving information that was deleted by mistake or lost during a
power surge or server crash

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DIGITAL FORENSICS AND OTHER RELATED DISCIPLINES

 Forensics investigators often work as part of a team, known as the

investigations triad

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DIGITAL FORENSICS AND OTHER RELATED DISCIPLINES

 Vulnerability/threat assessment and risk management

– Tests and verifies the integrity of stand-along
workstations and network servers
 Network intrusion detection and incident response
– Detects intruder attacks by using automated tools
and monitoring network firewall logs
 Digital investigations
– Manages investigations and conducts forensics
analysis of systems suspected of containing evidence

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PREPARING FOR DIGITAL INVESTIGATIONS

 Digital investigations fall

into two categories:
– Public-sector investigations
– Private-sector investigations

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PREPARING FOR DIGITAL INVESTIGATIONS

 Public-sector investigations involve government agencies responsible

for criminal investigations and prosecution
 Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
– Restrict government search and seizure
 The Department of Justice (DOJ) updates information on computer
search and seizure regularly
 Private-sector investigations focus more on policy violations

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UNDERSTANDING LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY INVESTIGATIONS

 When conducting public-sector investigations, you must understand

laws on computer-related crimes including:
– Standard legal processes
– Guidelines on search and seizure
– How to build a criminal case
 The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act was passed in 1986
– Specific state laws were generally developed later

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FOLLOWING LEGAL PROCESSES

 Digital Evidence First Responder (DEFR)

– Arrives on an incident scene, assesses the situation, and takes precautions to
acquire and preserve evidence
 Digital Evidence Specialist (DES)
– Has the skill to analyze the data and determine when another specialist should be
called in to assist
 Affidavit - a sworn statement of support of facts about or evidence of a
crime
– Must include exhibits that support the allegation

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UNDERSTANDING PRIVATE-SECTOR INVESTIGATIONS

 Private-sector investigations involve private companies and lawyers

who address company policy violations and litigation disputes
– Example: wrongful termination
 Businesses strive to minimize or eliminate litigation
 Private-sector crimes can involve:
– E-mail harassment, falsification of data, gender and age discrimination,
embezzlement, sabotage, and industrial espionage

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UNDERSTANDING PRIVATE-SECTOR INVESTIGATIONS…

 Businesses can reduce the risk of litigation by publishing and

maintaining policies that employees find easy to read and follow

 Most important policies define rules for using the company’s

computers and networks
– Known as an “Acceptable use policy”

 Line of authority - states who has the legal right to initiate an

investigation, who can take possession of evidence, and who can have
to access to evidence

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UNDERSTANDING PRIVATE-SECTOR INVESTIGATIONS…

 Business can avoid litigation by displaying a warning banner on

computer screens
– Informs end users that the organization reserves the right to inspect computer
systems and network traffic at will

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UNDERSTANDING PRIVATE-SECTOR INVESTIGATIONS…

 Sample text that can be used in internal warning banners:

– Use of this system and network is for official business only
– Systems and networks are subject to monitoring at any time by the owner
– Using this system implies consent to monitoring by the owner
– Unauthorized or illegal users of this system or network will be subject to
discipline or prosecution

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UNDERSTANDING PRIVATE-SECTOR INVESTIGATIONS…

 During private investigations, you search for evidence to support

allegations of violations of a company’s rules or an attack on its assets

 Three types of situations are common:

– Abuse or misuse of computing assets
– E-mail abuse
– Internet abuse

 A private-sector investigator’s job is to minimize risk to the company

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UNDERSTANDING PRIVATE-SECTOR INVESTIGATIONS…?

 The distinction between personal and company computer property can

be difficult with cell phones, smartphones, personal notebooks, and
tablet computers

 Bring your own device (BYOD) environment

– Some companies state that if you connect a personal device to the business
network, it falls under the same rules as company property

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MAINTAINING PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT

 Professional conduct - includes ethics, morals, and standards of

behavior
 An investigator must exhibit the highest level of professional behavior
at all times
– Maintain objectivity
– Maintain credibility by maintaining confidentiality
 Investigators should also attend training to stay current with the latest
technical changes in computer hardware and software, networking,
and forensic tools

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PREPARING A DIGITAL FORENSICS INVESTIGATION

 The role of digital forensics professional is to gather evidence to prove

that a suspect committed a crime or violated a company policy

 Collect evidence that can be offered in court or at a corporate inquiry

– Investigate the suspect’s computer
– Preserve the evidence on a different computer

 Chain of custody
– Route the evidence takes from the time you find it until the case is closed or goes
to court

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AN OVERVIEW OF A COMPANY POLICY VIOLATION

 Employees misusing resources can cost companies millions of dollars

 Misuse includes:
– Surfing the Internet
– Sending personal e-mails
– Using company computers for personal tasks

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TAKING A SYSTEMATIC APPROACH

 Steps for problem solving

– Make an initial assessment about the type of case you are investigating

– Determine a preliminary design or approach to the case

– Create a detailed checklist

– Determine the resources you need

– Obtain and copy an evidence drive

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TAKING A SYSTEMATIC APPROACH

 Steps for problem solving (cont’d)

– Identify the risks

– Mitigate or minimize the risks

– Test the design

– Analyze and recover the digital evidence

– Investigate the data you recover

– Complete the case report

– Critique the case

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ASSESSING THE CASE

 Systematically outline the case details

– Situation
– Nature of the case
– Specifics of the case
– Type of evidence
– Known disk format
– Location of evidence
 Based on these details, you can determine the case requirements

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PLANNING YOUR INVESTIGATION

 A basic investigation plan should include the following activities:

– Acquire the evidence
– Complete an evidence form and establish a chain of custody
– Transport the evidence to a computer forensics lab
– Secure evidence in an approved secure container

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PLANNING YOUR INVESTIGATION

 A basic investigation plan (cont’d):

– Prepare your forensics workstation
– Retrieve the evidence from the secure container
– Make a forensic copy of the evidence
– Return the evidence to the secure container
– Process the copied evidence with computer forensics tools

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PLANNING YOUR INVESTIGATION

 An evidence custody form helps you document what has been done
with the original evidence and its forensics copies
– Also called a chain-of-evidence form
 Two types
– Single-evidence form
• Lists each piece of evidence on a separate page
– Multi-evidence form

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 PLANNING YOUR INVESTIGATION

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 PLANNING YOUR INVESTIGATION

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SECURING YOUR EVIDENCE

 Use evidence bags to secure and catalog the evidence

 Use computer safe products when collecting computer evidence

– Antistatic bags
– Antistatic pads

 Use well padded containers

 Use evidence tape to seal all openings

– CD drive bays
– Insertion slots for power supply electrical cords and USB cables

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SECURING YOUR EVIDENCE

 Write your initials on tape to prove that evidence has not been
tampered with

 Consider computer specific temperature and humidity ranges

– Make sure you have a safe environment for transporting and storing it until a
secure evidence container is available

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PROCEDURES FOR PRIVATE-SECTOR HIGH-TECH INVESTIGATIONS

 As an investigator, you need to develop formal procedures and

informal checklists
– To cover all issues important to high-tech investigations
– Ensures that correct techniques are used in an investigation

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EMPLOYEE TERMINATION CASES

 The majority of investigative work for termination cases involves

employee abuse of corporate assets
 Incidents that create a hostile work environment are the predominant
types of cases investigated
– Viewing pornography in the workplace
– Sending inappropriate e-mails
 Organizations must have appropriate policies in place

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INTERNET ABUSE INVESTIGATIONS

 To conduct an investigation you need:

– Organization’s Internet proxy server logs
– Suspect computer’s IP address
– Suspect computer’s disk drive
– Your preferred computer forensics analysis tool

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INTERNET ABUSE INVESTIGATIONS

 Recommended steps
– Use standard forensic analysis techniques and procedures
– Use appropriate tools to extract all Web page URL information
– Contact the network firewall administrator and request a proxy server log
– Compare the data recovered from forensic analysis to the proxy server log
– Continue analyzing the computer’s disk drive data

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E-MAIL ABUSE INVESTIGATIONS

 To conduct an investigation you need:

– An electronic copy of the offending e-mail that contains message header data
– If available, e-mail server log records
– For e-mail systems that store users’ messages on a central server, access to the
server
– Access to the computer so that you can perform a forensic analysis on it
– Your preferred computer forensics analysis tool

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E-MAIL ABUSE INVESTIGATIONS

 Recommended steps
– Use the standard forensic analysis techniques
– Obtain an electronic copy of the suspect’s and victim’s e-mail folder or data
– For Web-based e-mail investigations, use tools such as FTK’s Internet Keyword
Search option to extract all related e-mail address information
– Examine header data of all messages of interest to the investigation

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ATTORNEY-CLIENT PRIVILEGE INVESTIGATIONS

 Under attorney-client privilege (ACP) rules for an attorney

– You must keep all findings confidential
 Many attorneys like to have printouts of the data you have recovered
– You need to persuade and educate many attorneys on how digital evidence can
be viewed electronically
 You can also encounter problems if you find data in the form of binary
files

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ATTORNEY-CLIENT PRIVILEGE INVESTIGATIONS

 Steps for conducting an ACP case

– Request a memorandum from the attorney directing you to start the investigation
– Request a list of keywords of interest to the investigation
– Initiate the investigation and analysis
– For disk drive examinations, make two bit-stream images using different tools for
each image
– Compare hash signatures on all files on the original and re-created disks

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ATTORNEY-CLIENT PRIVILEGE INVESTIGATIONS

 Steps for conducting an ACP case (cont’d)

– Methodically examine every portion of the disk drive and extract all data
– Run keyword searches on allocated and unallocated disk space
– For Windows OSs, use specialty tools to analyze and extract data from the
Registry
– For binary data files such as CAD drawings, locate the correct software product
– For unallocated data recovery, use a tool that removes or replaces nonprintable
data

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ATTORNEY-CLIENT PRIVILEGE INVESTIGATIONS

 Steps for conducting an ACP case (cont’d)

– Consolidate all recovered data from the evidence bit-stream image into folders
and subfolders
 Other guidelines
– Minimize written communications with the attorney
– Any documentation written to the attorney must contain a header stating that it’s
“Privileged Legal Communication—Confidential Work Product”
– Assist the attorney and paralegal in analyzing data

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INDUSTRIAL ESPIONAGE INVESTIGATIONS

 All suspected industrial espionage cases should be treated as criminal

investigations
 Staff needed
– Computing investigator who is responsible for disk forensic examinations
– Technology specialist who is knowledgeable of the suspected compromised
technical data
– Network specialist who can perform log analysis and set up network sniffers
– Threat assessment specialist (typically an attorney)

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INDUSTRIAL ESPIONAGE INVESTIGATIONS

 Guidelines when initiating an investigation

– Determine whether this investigation involves a possible industrial espionage
incident
– Consult with corporate attorneys and upper management
– Determine what information is needed to substantiate the allegation
– Generate a list of keywords for disk forensics and sniffer monitoring
– List and collect resources for the investigation

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INDUSTRIAL ESPIONAGE INVESTIGATIONS

 Guidelines (cont’d)
– Determine goal and scope of the investigation
– Initiate investigation after approval from management
 Planning considerations
– Examine all e-mail of suspected employees
– Search Internet newsgroups or message boards
– Initiate physical surveillance
– Examine facility physical access logs for sensitive areas

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INDUSTRIAL ESPIONAGE INVESTIGATIONS

 Planning considerations (cont’d)

– Determine suspect location in relation to the vulnerable asset
– Study the suspect’s work habits
– Collect all incoming and outgoing phone logs
 Steps to conducting an industrial espionage case
– Gather all personnel assigned to the investigation and brief them on the plan
– Gather resources to conduct the investigation

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INDUSTRIAL ESPIONAGE INVESTIGATIONS

 Steps (cont’d)
– Place surveillance systems at key locations
– Discreetly gather any additional evidence
– Collect all log data from networks and e-mail servers
– Report regularly to management and corporate attorneys
– Review the investigation’s scope with management and corporate attorneys

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SETTING UP YOUR WORKSTATION FOR DIGITAL FORENSICS

 Basic requirements
– A workstation running Windows XP or later
– A write-blocker device
– Digital forensics acquisition tool
– Digital forensics analysis tool
– Target drive to receive the source or suspect disk data
– Spare PATA or SATA ports
– USB ports

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SETTING UP YOUR WORKSTATION FOR DIGITAL FORENSICS

 Additional useful items

– Network interface card (NIC)
– Extra USB ports
– FireWire 400/800 ports
– SCSI card
– Disk editor tool
– Text editor tool
– Graphics viewer program
– Other specialized viewing tools

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COMPLETING THE CASE

 You need to produce a final report

– State what you did and what you found
 Include ProDiscover report to document your work
 Repeatable findings
– Repeat the steps and produce the same result
 If required, use a report template
 Report should show conclusive evidence
– Suspect did or did not commit a crime or violate a company policy

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COMPLETING THE CASE

 Keep a written journal of everything you do

– Your notes can be used in court
 Answer the six Ws:
– Who, what, when, where, why, and how
 You must also explain computer and network processes

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CRITIQUING THE CASE

 Ask yourself the following questions:

– How could you improve your performance in the case?
– Did you expect the results you found? Did the case develop in ways you did not
expect?
– Was the documentation as thorough as it could have been?
– What feedback has been received from the requesting source?

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CRITIQUING THE CASE

 Ask yourself the following questions (cont’d):

– Did you discover any new problems? If so, what are they?
– Did you use new techniques during the case or during research?

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LAB SESSION

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